As kids, my mom would take time during summers to filter through mine and Dani’s closets, pulling out the clothes that no longer fit. Looking back on those times, especially in middle school, my style changed frequently. Many of the excuses for getting rid of clothes were “I’m not going to wear that anymore” or “It just never fit me right”. The next step was bagging them up and dropping them off at Goodwill.

In college, I learned a lot about the clothing industry, specifically the exploitation of its workers — low wages and long hours. I also felt bad about how many shirts, shoes, and pants I had and worse about how many I don’t wear. Over the past few years, it’s had nothing to do with the quality or condition of the clothes — just that they no longer fit me or weren’t my style. Did they deserve to be trashed?

So, I discovered Poshmark. It’s a website where people can sell their new-with-tags, new-without-tags, and gently used clothes. There’s an abundance of name brands on Poshmark, like Lilly Pulitzer, J. Crew, Victoria’s Secret, Top Shop, etc., at discounted prices mostly because the owner no longer likes that style or the item didn’t fit. In a statistic from the Council for Textile Recycling, I learned that 85% of clothing ends up in landfills — 70 lbs per person.

I’m converting my closet because my style changes often. I’m looking for better brands and higher quality than I had in my Forever 21/Aeropostale years. By shopping used, I can fall in love with a piece that someone else once loved or never loved. The best part is I lowered the rate of waste and (ever so slightly) lowered the constant demand for brand new clothing.